This past summer, senior Maddy Kahn created a new term for when she binge watched “The Vampire Diaries:” vamping.

“My friends would ask if I wanted to hang out, but I said ‘Sorry, I’m vamping,’ and they’d all know what I’m doing,” Kahn said.

When she starts a new television series, Kahn said she is always anxious to see what comes next. She watched all six seasons of “The Vampire Diaries” in less than three weeks.

“The day after I got home [from my backpacking trip over the summer], I laid in bed the whole day,” said Kahn. “I did not see any friends. I was just so tired that I watched “The Vampire Diaries” the whole day, from the time I woke up to the time I went to bed.”

During a sleepover, sophomore Jacob Denenberg said he watched “How To Get Away With Murder” for 10 hours straight, from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.

“We got through the first 12 episodes and finished an entire box of Oreos,” Denenberg said.

In addition to “How To Get Away with Murder,” Denenberg said he watches episodes of “The Big Bang Theory,” “Modern Family” and “Friends” without stopping, a behavior known as binge watching.

Psychiatrist Jonathan Bloomberg defined binge watching as continuously watching television in an addictive manner.

“Addiction is when you get a sense of euphoria, joy, while participating in something, and a sense of dysphoria, unrest, when you stop doing it,” said Bloomberg. “Addiction doesn’t have to be cocaine or a drug, it can be eating, gambling, and in this case, binge watching.”

Television broadcasting teacher Todd Rubin said binge watching has risen in popularity due to evolving technology.

“Growing up as a child, I was a huge television watcher, and having to wait that week or four months for that next show was frustrating for me,” said Rubin. “Now that I have the opportunity to press play and to watch it again … it’s exciting.”

Rubin also said word of mouth and accessibility have created a buzz for streaming services like Netflix and Hulu.

“This is a generation that wants things immediately,” said Rubin. “[High schoolers] don’t want to wait.”

According to Bloomberg, the automatic reloading feature on Netflix that starts the next show in 10 seconds feeds the problem of binge watching.

“It keeps going and going, and it’s hard to step away,” Bloomberg said.

Kahn said this feature encourages her binge watching habits.

“You need willpower to stop yourself, and a lot of people don’t have that since the shows are so addicting,” Kahn said.

Rubin said streaming services, like Netflix, understand how to “hook somebody in.”

“Providers want to keep feeding [people] and create the appetite after 20 episodes that [people] are willing to come back,” said Rubin. “They made a commitment [to the show]…so they are willing to come back a year later for whatever the show is. They literally make plans around it, allocate an entire weekend where they are just going to binge watch that show.”

Bloomberg said another aspect of addiction is that it becomes impairing and interferes in one’s life.

“If someone is binge watching to the point where they can’t stop and if it is interfering with other aspects of their lives … that’s a major problem,” Bloomberg said.

Both Denenberg and Kahn often find themselves binge watching rather than doing homework.

“When I come home from a late night and I’m sitting and doing homework, I often start watching a show,” said Denenberg. “Whenever I can distract myself from thinking about that I don’t want to do my homework, I will watch.”

Denenberg said he gets distracted even when he is not watching a show.

“Even when there is a screen on anywhere near me, there is something about TV that reminds you, ‘hey, this is enjoyable’ and you want to focus your attention on it,” Denenberg said.

Kahn observed that binge watching affects her physiological state. She said that one day, her eyes turned bright red from watching continuous episodes on her computer screen, and she had to put eyedrops in.

Denenberg said it affects his body by keeping him awake at night.

“When I binge watch late at night, my mind races,” said Denenberg. “Having that mental stimulation keeps me up.”

Rubin said he does not see binge watching television shows as negative.

“Watching TV often times creates imagery, imagination and drives people to think in different ways,” said Rubin. “Television keeps pushing the boundaries of drama, of comedy, and the more exposure teens have to it, I don’t look at that as a huge negative.”

Kahn said that in addition to being able to stay in the loop with her friends about shows they have already watched, binge watching relieves her stress.

“It always takes my mind off of things if I’m ever having a problem,” Kahn said.

Bloomberg said changing this addictive habit can be difficult.

“Kids get a rush from watching, and it gets to be a terrible problem getting them off,” Bloomberg said.

Kahn said although she also enjoys binge watching, she worries about next year when she is in college. Kahn is taking steps to reverse her binge watching habits by going to sleep earlier and only watching one to two episodes per day.

“It’s hard to break a habit,” said Kahn. “Once you watch so much TV for such a long time, you’re so used to it that you just want to keep going and going.”

Bloomberg said there is no official psychiatric diagnosis since it is a new phenomenon, but advises people to become aware of the binge watching problem.

“People need to be caught up,” said Bloomberg. “Older generations are not as familiar with what goes on with high school students these days. People need to get familiar with this topic, so we know that it exists. The first step is awareness. Once there is awareness, then you can start thinking about what you are going to do to solve it.”

Denenberg said he is going to control his habit instead of changing it.

“My parents advise me not to [binge watch,] but I have it under enough control that I am comfortable with it,” said Denenberg. “I have to balance what my parents don’t like about my binge watching and what I think is acceptable in this day and age.”